Police: Indiana woman killed husband, asked kids to help dispose of body

LAPORTE, Ind. — An Indiana woman is accused of fatally shooting her husband, partially dismembering his body, and then asking her two teenage children to help dispose of his body, authorities said.

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Thessalonica Allen, 34, of LaPorte, was charged with the July 27 murder of Randy Allen, The Times of Northwest Indiana reported. She also faces two counts of contributing the delinquency of a minor, abuse of a corpse, alteration of a death scene and two counts of neglect of a dependent, according to court documents. She also faces misdemeanor interference with the reporting of a crime, the newspaper reported.

Court records did not indicate the ages of Thessalonica Allen’s children, but confirmed both were younger than 16, the South Bend Tribune reported.

According to police, a man who had once been in a relationship with Thessalonica Allen and has a child with her said the woman contacted him and said Randy Allen was beating the child, the Times reported.

The man said Thessalonica Allen showed him Randy Allen’s body in a closet, the newspaper reported. According to police, Thessalonica Allen asked the man to help place her husband’s body in a car but he refused, the Tribune reported.

Thessalonica Allen’s children told police that their mother came home on Friday with cleaning supplies and an ax, and later asked them to help place the body in a tote bag, the newspaper reported, citing court documents.

The body was too heavy for the trio to move him, WBND reported. The children told police that their mother planned to drive the body to South Bend and set it on fire, the television station reported.

When authorities located Thessalonica Allen in the parking lot of a LaPorte Ace Hardware store, she began to cry and said, “You guys don’t understand. He beats me,” the Times reported.

According to court documents, Thessalonica Allen confessed to shooting her husband after a physical altercation. Police said she kept Randy Allen’s body in her daughter’s bedroom closet, which was recovered by authorities.

“She then admitted she had to cut Randy’s legs off because she wasn’t able to fit him inside the tote,” police said, according to court documents. “She stated she panicked and did not know what to do after she had shot him. She stated she used an ax to cut his legs off.”

An autopsy revealed Randy Allen sustained a gunshot wound to the right arm that entered his chest and abdomen, the Times reported. The shot entered his spinal cord area, which doctors said most likely left Randy Allen unable to move as he bled to death.

Thessalonica Allen is being held in the LaPorte County Jail without bail, according to online booking records. Her initial appearance in court is scheduled for Friday.

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